History is repeating itself. We've had this election before. Yet despite what the left’s media mouthpieces are saying, Tuesday and its aftermath looks more like 2004 than 2008. Yes, Barack Obama just won a second term — but things are only going to get worse.

Hope and change are both on the chopping block. If Obama couldn't deliver on his promises in his first four years, then he certainly won’t in his second four. But that doesn't mean he won't be busy. Here's a list of things you can expect to see between now and 2016.

Four more years of Obamacare. It’s now a fact of American public policy, even though a majority of Americans still favor repealing it.

Four more years of the health care mandate. The right of conscience — a right which the left supposedly supports — is now denied to an entire religion (and one that makes up 24% of this country’s population). The future of religious freedom has never looked so bleak.

Four more years without a working federal budget. The Democratic Senate hasn’t passed a budget in three years. They’ve had the majorities to do so, but have been derelict in their duty to do their most basic job. For a party that rants against the status quo so much, they’re pretty adept at maintaining it themselves.

Four more years closer to the welfare state’s fiscal collapse. The Democratic Party has literally no proposal to fix the massive financial holes in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Over the last four years, they’ve made no improvements to these ailing programs — other than take money away from them. The left’s promise that everything will be OK is either naïve or an outright lie.

Four more years of trillion dollar deficits. Obama has promised to cut spending on the margins, yet his unwillingness to tackle the welfare state’s ever-growing financial burden means that any gains will be short-lived at best. Things don’t look good when food stamp rolls are growing 75 times faster than jobs.

Four more years of mounting national debt. We’re already past the $16 trillion mark (with a further $1 million added every 30 seconds), a sum that’s actually larger than our entire economy. A $20 trillion national debt looks increasingly likely by the time Obama leaves office. And to think we were debating over a measly $6 trillion limit 10 years ago.

Four more years of demagoguery against the wealthy. Never mind that Obama’s proposed tax hike would pay the government’s bills for roughly two weeks. Never mind that it won’t even cover our annual deficits. And never mind that the president’s anti-1% rhetoric was nothing more than a ploy to win votes from the people his policies have impoverished. Tax all you want, Mr. President — it won’t get us out of this mess.

Four more years of rising seas. President Obama promised to calm the climate gods’ fury in 2008, yet Mother Earth has been surprisingly disagreeable. I doubt she’ll listen to a net gain of two senators.

Four more years of infuriating gridlock. The House is still firmly in the GOP’s hands. They know that on many issues, the American people are behind them. They’ll likely be more willing to compromise, but they won’t be willing to cave — not with 48% of the nation behind them.

Four more years of bureaucratic despotism. The Democratic Party’s idea of compromise means getting 98% of the deal. If they can’t get that — which they won’t with a Republican House — then they’ll turn to the unelected administrative state to accomplish what the democratically-elected Congress won’t. Obama has already directed his EPA to do exactly that in his quest to kill the coal industry.

Four more years closer to European-style failure. Across the pond, they face chronically high unemployment (even higher for youth), entitlements that simply can’t be paid for, and widespread riots and violence at the state’s inability to deliver on its short-sighted promises. We have a mirror into our own future — too bad the mirror is out of our price range.

But hope springs eternal. Tuesday was no landslide. There was no comprehensive and sweeping victory, nor was there an outright public rejection of one party’s philosophy. The electoral mandate that both parties sought turned out to be a 2% Democratic majority in the popular vote. Once again, the oft-prophesied death of the conservative movement will have to wait.

Perhaps history will repeat itself again while we're waiting. Barry Goldwater’s loss in 1964 paved the way for Ronald Reagan in 1980. But it won't take 16 years this time around. If Obama’s first term is any indication, he’ll waste no time reminding the American people why his original mandate just shrank to a margin.

Enjoy your second term, Mr. President. We’ll still be here when you’re finished.